New solutions for quality exchange and availability

realized reorganization of the loading aids.

High demands on quantity and quality

Around 350,000 pallets pass through the distribution center in Lorsch every year.

A major challenge for Alnatura was supplying the distribution center in Lorsch with sufficient pallets. Around 350,000 pallets pass through the distribution center every year. The world's largest wooden high-bay warehouse, where goods are picked daily, can hold 32,000 pallets. "As our demand for pallets fluctuates greatly at short notice and we don't have the space to build up large stocks of pallets, it was often a challenge for us in the past to obtain the required quantity of load carriers from pallet dealers," reports Schmitt. "Thanks to the cooperation with PAKi, the adjustment of quantities for the distribution center in Lorsch can now be arranged within a few days and the site can be supplied with the required quantity of pallets." Alnatura also uses PAKi's Europe-wide network to provide pallets for new and existing flows of goods in Germany and abroad. Another very important issue for Schmitt is the assured quality of the pallets. "We buy the right quality from PAKi and can be sure that we and our manufacturers always receive the guaranteed quality. Discussions about pallet quality, which we have had to deal with in the past, can therefore be reduced to a minimum." Another advantage of the PAKi service for the Hessian company, which attaches great importance to sustainability: The freight forwarders are no longer responsible for returning pallets to the manufacturers. This gives them additional capacity and fewer trips have to be made with empty pallets. This reduction in return trips also contributes to Alnatura's corporate goal of reducing CO2 emissions.

Simpler processes in pallet account management

In the past, the pallet accounts that Alnatura maintains with its manufacturing partners were balanced by the freight forwarders who collected the pallets themselves. This was often a lengthy process due to capacity difficulties on the part of the freight forwarders and the availability of pallets. "Today, PAKi takes care of returning empty pallets to the manufacturers for Alnatura. Here too, all it takes is an email order to PAKi and the manufacturer usually receives a delivery of empty pallets within a week. This makes things much easier for us," summarizes Simon Schmitt. The handling of pallet exchanges with trading partners has also been optimized. Previously, the pallets were either exchanged one-for-one between retail partners and freight forwarders or, where this was not possible, paid for with pallet bills. These had to be collected by Alnatura, recorded and returned to the forwarders in exact quantities when the retail partners needed empty pallets. "Alnatura can now submit the trading partners' pallet bills to PAKi in bundles. Either the originals or a digital transfer are sufficient. We then take care of the credit notes completely independently," says Klaus Dörr, Director Sales DACH at Pooling Partners for PAKi Services. This has also made discussions about the quality of the pallets returned by the retail partners superfluous. The credits can be exchanged for pallets of the desired quality at any PAKi Pooling Station in Europe.

About Pooling Partners

The Dutch family business operates three pooling networks for supply chains in different sectors: IPP Logipal, PAKi Logistics and PRS Return System. IPP Logipal Pool is the leader in the rental of pallets and boxes for FMCG and industrial supply chains across Europe. Through an extensive network of service centers, customers can rent pallets for the storage and transport of their goods. PAKi's European network is the market leader in pool management of exchangeable and standardized load carriers such as Euro pallets or pallet cages. Customers receive their pallets and return them when and where they want - via a dense network of more than 10,000 pooling stations throughout Europe. The PRS Return System is a pooling system for users of CP pallets in the demanding polymer and chemical industry within Europe and Turkey. For almost 20 years, the system has been contributing to sustainability through the rapidly increasing use of reusable pallets, which significantly reduces packaging waste.

Together with PAKi, further relations are now being examined for a changeover. At the same time, the organic retailer from Hesse has already successfully started working with IPP Logipal GmbH, another subsidiary of Pooling Partners, to map the display process with the 1.4 quarter pallet from IPP.